08/04/2025
STATEMENT FROM MAYOR ANGIE NELSON DEUITCH ON GUN VIOLENCE IN MICHIGAN CITY
I am heartbroken and disturbed by the recent surge in gun violence that continues to shake Michigan City. In the past few months, we’ve seen accidental shootings inside homes—tragedies that should never happen. But in recent weeks, the violence has escalated. These are not accidents. These are conflicts, retaliations, and reckless decisions—often involving young adults with access to fi****ms.
As recently as early this morning, we lost another young life. Another mother is grieving. Another family shattered. And again, I find myself asking: how many more young people must we bury before we wake up as a community?
This violence is out of control. And it cannot be normalized.
As your Mayor—and as a mother—I am grieving. I see the faces of these young men and think of my own son, brothers, nephews, and godson. The lives we are losing are not strangers; they are our future. Talented, promising, and unfinished. Their deaths should not become routine.
Let me be clear: gun violence affects us all. It spills into our neighborhoods, our schools, our hospitals, our peace of mind. No parent should fear a knock on the door. No child should grow up believing that violence is their only option or fate.
I take my role as Mayor seriously. But I must speak honestly: we cannot police our way out of this crisis. These tragedies reflect more than just policy failures—they reveal social wounds, easy access to guns, and unresolved trauma. They show what happens when conflict is met with bullets instead of conversation.
Indiana’s gun laws have made this harder. Permitless carry and loose regulations allow fi****ms to flow freely, including into the hands of those not ready—or legally allowed—to possess them. Law enforcement is doing its part, but we need the tools and the laws to match the urgency of the crisis.
Some of these recent shootings have taken place late at night—outside bars, after large unsupervised gatherings. But it’s not just the setting—it’s the mindset. We have to change the culture of how conflict is handled, how weapons are stored, and how we pour into our youth before the streets do.
I feel the pain, I hear the anger—but I also know we cannot heal through blame alone. It’s easy to point fingers at City Hall or the police. But we also have to hold accountable those who are choosing violence, those who are silent witnesses, those who enable the chaos and those who have their finger on the trigger.
In the days and weeks ahead, I will meet with law enforcement, clergy, educators, business owners, and youth advocates to strengthen our Safe Streets initiative, expand community outreach, and restore safety in our neighborhoods. But I need the entire village to stand up with me—not after the next funeral, but now.
To every mother and father who has lost a son or daughter, I grieve with you. To every parent raising boys in this city, I stand with you. And to every young person who thinks violence is the only way—I beg you to choose differently. Your life matters. Your future matters. And we are fighting for it.
